Legal issues led to demise

Wednesday

Legal calamities and the associated negative publicity pushed the impending execution of St. John’s Military School, echoed four members of the school’s board of trustees.

A number of civil cases brought against the school in recent decades, led to draining the St. John’s endowment as settlements were made to silence negativity.

But that didn’t happen. Media reports bombarded cyberspace, trustees said, and if the parent of a prospective cadet was curious about SJMS, it was just one Google search away.

Stories about the school’s bouts with the legal system soiled its reputation, they said, and drastically impacted enrollment.

“I would honestly say this was all caused by the lawsuits, 100 percent,” said Tom Pestinger, a local businessman who has served 12 years as a trustee.

“It’s a horrible thing for Salina,” he said. “It’s killing me.”

Allegations of physical, sexual and mental abuse between cadets — including branding — led to parents accusing the school of not providing adequate supervision.

St. John’s and its attorneys have been to civil court several times, including 14 abuse-related lawsuits settled between 2006 and 2012.

A complaint was filed by six sets of parents for cadets from six states, that was settled in March 2014. It was settled just before the beginning of a civil trial. An arbitrator ordered the school in December to pay $369,175 to the family of an 11-year-old student who was allegedly bullied and sodomized by another student in 2014. Information was shared by media outlets from New York to San Francisco, according to one of those online searches.

“The school was sued several times. The suits did not have any substance, but we settled them so we could move on, and hopefully end publicity that was not factual and also fabricated, but settlement did not seem to solve this problem,” said Dale Browning, a board member, and a part of the SJMS class of 1955.

Some stories included “exaggerations, and allegations out of context,” he said, “and never one time, not once, did they try to get our side of the story. I don’t think St. John’s has ever gotten a fair hearing in the press.”

School officials mentioned a report from 2016 when a news story read that St. John’s had 339 abuse complaints in one five-year period.

SJMS maintains that the claim is inaccurate, and was pulled from conduct reports, which included notations like a cadet not being prepared for class, uniform violations, not cleaning his room, horseplay or verbal arguments. More serious incidents resulted in one or more cadets being dismissed from school.

Some media members “took it upon themselves to damage the school beyond repair,” said Larry Britegam, a board member, longtime Salina banker, and former cadet.

“St. John’s would be viable today if not for the accusations that have been made publicly,” he said. “The school has vigorously defended the accusations that have been made, but what you have seen is what can happen when something is played out in the press, throughout the legal profession and ultimately on social media, when accusations are made and the public makes decisions that are not accurate.”

The 1972 Salina South High School graduate said he witnessed similar behaviors at both institutions.

“In a military school, there is a perception of problem kids,” Britegam said. “I attended both, and there really wasn’t that much difference.”

Other factors contributed to the school’s problems, said Col. William Clark, SJMS president.

“Our educational landscape has evolved, providing more opportunities for families,” he said. “Put all of that together and it’s had an adverse impact on the St. John’s enrollment.”

He mentioned two other such schools that have closed within the past 2 1/2 years.

“Living in a rural area in the central United States,” Clark said, “your population base to draw students from is quite different than a large metropolitan area on the coasts.”

Board Chairman Randy Hoppe, of Sharpsburg, Ga., wonders how well military schools fit into the mix these days, especially when you throw in legal issues.

“With some of the hardships and sometimes unfair lawsuits, it has made it difficult to sustain,” Hoppe said. “Enrollment has been shrinking.”

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